[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

It's basically just common sense. Whenever a University actively prefers and/or peruses minorities based on the stance that it is necessary to compensate for disadvantages, then you know that perhaps those who are highly qualified...but HAPPEN to be a white male...are not being fairly considered.

However my main beef has to do with the fact that it widens the gap in academic qualifications between different ethnic groups who happen to be attending the same university by granting admission to preferred students based on lower requirements.

And not to mention...equal protection clause!

So let me get this straight: Your argument is that white males are being discriminated against by universities, and this is based not on any statistics that you've seen - presumably because you haven't seen any at all - but on the premise that "it's basically just common sense?"

Sorry, buddy. That ain't gonna fly. And this is the worst example yet of you spouting off some conservative talking point that you believe for no other reason than that somebody told you so and you think it "makes sense." And you wonder people don't take your arguments seriously sometimes.

You're actually claiming that highly-qualified white males are somehow discriminated against by the American university system. Do you have any idea how ridiculously laughable that statement is? It sounds like something Lamb and Lynx might sing about.

Let's do a little research, okay? Here's a document I found about race in the US from the 2000 Census webpage: http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-1.pdf
Now, according to Table 1 on page 3, 62.5% of Americans in 2000 were non-Hispanic whites. Let's assume that percentage is the same today (it certainly hasn't gone up). And let's assume it's the same across all age ranges (although it's likely somewhat lower among college-aged people, since the white folks ain't the ones with the highest birth rates in the past 20 years). For that other 37.5% we've got: 12.5% Hispanic, 12.3% black, .9% Native American, 3.6% Asian, .1% Pacific Islander, and about 8% miscellaneous or bi-racial.

Now, it's going to be slightly problematic comparing national census data to specific universities, since most people tend to go to college close to home, and different states have different levels of ethnic diversity. But let's check out the University of Michigan, since they were at the center of the most recent Supreme Court case about affirmative action policies. Actually, it was Michigan's law school, but I couldn't find their ethnic make-up on the website, so we're going to have to settle for the undergrads. Here's your data sheet: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/f..._freshprof.pdf

Now, we're looking at freshmen enrolled in Fall 2004, okay? That's 3,774 white students out of 6,040 total. For those of you who don't want to do the math - and I promise you, I didn't calculate this before I decided to use this school as an example - that's 62.4%. Amazing, isn't it? Somehow, at this school that has become notorious for affirmative action policies, whites are not under-represented. Incredible. And the percentage is even higher if you discount the 310 foreign students who aren't counted in the ethnicity survey. I'll you who is under-represented, though: Hisanic Americans made up just 4.3% of the total freshman class last year, and black Americans 5.7%. Those are far less than half of their respective percentages in the total population. In fact, the only minority that is over-represented is Asian Americans, at 11.6%. Somehow I don't think those Asian kids are terribly underqualified, though. And as far as gender goes, Michigan's enrollment is about 50-50, only slightly favoring women, which makes sense since women make up about 51-52% of the US population.

Now, you tell me what your brilliant "common sense" says after looking at some actual facts. And we could do this for almost every university in the US. You take any school in the top 50 on U.S. News and World Report's infamous annual list of the best American universities, and I will be shocked if any of those schools have Hispanic or black populations that come close to those groups' populations in the country or region at large.

Now run away and hide behind your beloved Ronnie and Anne if you want to. But don't you dare spout any more of your completely ignorant bull**** around here if you don't have something to back it up with besides your precious f***ing "common sense."

Ridiculous.